Qualifying comments with poll responses on online systems

ABSTRACT

An online system receives a request from a target user to present a poll to other users of the online system. The poll includes a question and answer options associated with the question. The online system provides the poll for display to the other users and receives a selection of an answer option from each of the other users. Also, the online system receives comments associated with the poll from some of the other users. The online system qualifies the comments. For example, the online system generates a comment group for each of the answer options that includes comments from users who selected the answer option. As another example, the online system generates an indication for each comment that shows which answer options was selected by the user having provided the comment. The online system provides the comment groups and/or answer indications to the target user and the other users.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to online systems, and more particularto presenting polls and qualifying comments with poll responses ononline systems.

Online systems have become increasingly prevalent in digital contentdistribution and consumption, and allow users to more easily communicatewith one another. Users of an online system associate with other onlinesystem users, forming a web of connections. Additionally, users mayshare personal information and other stories with other users connectedto them via an online system.

For example, an online system user can post content items on an onlinesystem and the posted content items can be displayed to other onlinesystem users, e.g., other users associated with the online system userposting the content items. Examples of content items posted by onlinesystem users include messages, videos, music, photos, notes, pagesand/or other types of content. Online systems provide options to theother online system users to interact with those content items. Forexample, the other online system users can share, express an emotion(e.g., like, surprise, angry, etc.), or comment on posted content items.

It encourages online system users to use the online system if onlinesystem users can interact more with one another on the online system. Ifa user posts a content item on the online system, the user probably isinterested in receiving comments or feedback on the content items fromother online system users. For example, if a user posts a question onthe online system, the user usually expects to receive answers to thequestion from other users of the online system. Current methods allowsonline system users to comment on a content item to answer a questionincluded in the content item. However, a content item can often receivea great number of comments. It is difficult for online system users toquickly review all of the same type of answers to the question includedin the content item without carefully reading all those comments. Also,with the current methods, it is challenging for online system users tocommunicate based answers in those comments.

SUMMARY

An online system allows a user to post on the online system a pollincluding a question and multiple answer options associated with thequestion. Also, the online system qualifies comments made by other usersbased on their responses to the poll.

In some embodiments, the online system receives from a target user arequest to present a content item including a poll to other users thatare connected to the target user on the online system. The poll includesa question and multiple answer options associated with the question. Theonline system provides for display the content item including the pollto the other users and receives a selection of an answer option fromeach of a plurality of the other users. The online system determines theresults of the received selections in the poll as the selections arebeing made by the other users and provides the results for display tothe target user and other users.

In addition to the selections of the answer options, the online systemalso receives comments associated with the poll in the content item fromat least some of the other users. In one embodiment, the online systemgenerates a comment group for each of the answer options in response tothe poll. The comment group includes comments from users who selectedthat answer option. The online system provides, for display to thetarget user and other users, the comment groups in a user interface. Theuser interface allows for switching between views showing comments byusers based on which answer option they selected. In another embodiment,the online system generates an indication for each of the comments thatshows which answer option was selected by the other user having providedthat comment. The online system provides the comments along with theiranswer indications for display to the target user and other users. Theonline system may also rank the received comments and elevates thehighest ranked comment to become part of the content item, oralternatively allows a user to select a comment to be elevated,highlighted, sorted to the top of the comments list, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which an onlinesystem operates, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an online system including a poll moduleand a highlight module, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the poll module of the online system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4A shows an example content item including a poll generated basedon a poll request from a target user, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4B shows an example where comments associated with the poll in FIG.4A are qualified, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4C shows an example user interface allowing a user to switchbetween views showing comments based on which answer option the userselect, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4D shows an example where a comment associate with the poll in FIG.4A is elevated to the content item including the poll, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process for allocating commentsassociated with a poll to comment groups based on poll responses ofonline system users having provided the comments, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process for providing answerindications for comments associated with a poll based on poll responsesof online system users having provided the comments, in accordance withan embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the highlight module of the online system,in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 8A-C illustrate an example of a user interface allowing a user tohighlight a comment associated with a content item, in accordance withone embodiment.

FIGS. 9A-C illustrate an example of a user interface allowing a user toadd a comment to a content item with which the comment is associated, inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for modifying a contentitem by including a comment on the content item to become a part ofcontent in the content item, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process for highlighting a commenton a content item, in accordance with an embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the followingdiscussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methodsillustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principlesdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 in which an onlinesystem 140 operates, in accordance with an embodiment. The systemenvironment 100 in FIG. 1 includes one or more client devices 110, anetwork 120, one or more third-party systems 130, and the online system140. In alternative configurations, different and/or additionalcomponents may be included in the system environment 100. For example,the online system 140 is a social networking system, a content sharingnetwork, or another system providing content to users.

The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable ofreceiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data viathe network 120. Examples of user input include posting content items(e.g., polls, notes, videos, music and stories) on the online system 140and interacting (e.g., commenting on, liking, sharing, liking, hidingand deleting) with content items posted by other users on the onlinesystem 140. In one embodiment, a client device 110 is a conventionalcomputer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer. Alternatively,a client device 110 may be a device having computer functionality, suchas a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone,or another suitable device. A client device 110 is configured tocommunicate via the network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110executes an application allowing a user of the client device 110 tointeract with the online system 140. For example, a client device 110executes a browser application to enable interaction between the clientdevice 110 and the online system 140 via the network 120. In anotherembodiment, a client device 110 interacts with the online system 140through an application programming interface (API) running on a nativeoperating system of the client device 110, such as IOS® or ANDROID™.

The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network120, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide areanetworks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In oneembodiment, the network 120 uses standard communications technologiesand/or protocols. For example, the network 120 includes communicationlinks using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples ofnetworking protocols used for communicating via the network 120 includemultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol(HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol(FTP). Data exchanged over the network 120 may be represented using anysuitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensiblemarkup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of thecommunication links of the network 120 may be encrypted using anysuitable technique or techniques.

One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network 120for communicating with the online system 140, which is further describedbelow in conjunction with FIG. 2. In one embodiment, a third partysystem 130 is an application provider communicating informationdescribing applications for execution by a client device 110 orcommunicating data to client devices 110 for use by an applicationexecuting on the client device. In other embodiments, a third partysystem 130 provides content or other information for presentation via aclient device 110. A third party system 130 may also communicateinformation to the online system 140, such as advertisements, content,or information about an application provided by the third party system130.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an online system 140 including a pollmodule 230 and a highlight module 240, in accordance with an embodiment.The online system 140 in FIG. 2 includes a user profile store 205, acontent store 210, an action logger 215, an action log 220, an edgestore 225, the poll module 230, the highlight module 240 and a webserver 250. In other embodiments, the online system 140 may includeadditional, fewer, or different components for various applications.Conventional components such as network interfaces, security functions,load balancers, failover servers, management and network operationsconsoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details ofthe system architecture.

Each user of the online system 140 is associated with a user profile,which is stored in the user profile store 205. A user profile includesdeclarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by theuser and may also include profile information inferred by the onlinesystem 140. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple datafields, each describing one or more attributes of the correspondingonline system user (referred to as “user attributes”). Examples ofinformation stored in a user profile include biographic, demographic,and other types of descriptive information, such as work experience,educational history, gender, hobbies or preferences, location and thelike.

A user profile may store other information provided by the user, forexample, images or videos. In certain embodiments, images of users maybe tagged with information identifying the online system users displayedin an image, with information identifying the images in which a user istagged stored in the user profile of the user. A user profile in theuser profile store 205 may also maintain references to actions by thecorresponding user performed on content items in the content store 210and stored in the action log 220.

While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are frequentlyassociated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with eachother via the online system 140, user profiles may also be stored forentities such as businesses or organizations. This allows an entity toestablish a presence on the online system 140 for connecting andexchanging content with other online system users. The entity may postinformation about itself, about its products or provide otherinformation to users of the online system 140 using a brand pageassociated with the entity's user profile. Other users of the onlinesystem 140 may connect to the brand page to receive information postedto the brand page or to receive information from the brand page. A userprofile associated with the brand page may include information about theentity itself, providing users with background or informational dataabout the entity.

The content store 210 stores objects. Each of the objects representsvarious types of content. Examples of content represented by an objectinclude a poll including a question and multiple answer optionsassociated with the question, a message, a note, a page post, a statusupdate, a photograph, a video, an audio, a link, a shared content item,a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a local business,a brand page, or any other type of content. Content stored in thecontent store 310, regardless of its composition, may be referred toherein as one or more “content items,” or as “content.”

Online system users may create objects stored by the content store 210,such as polls, status updates, photos tagged by users to be associatedwith other objects in the online system 140, events, groups orapplications. In some embodiments, objects are received from third-partyapplications or third-party applications separate from the online system140. In one embodiment, objects in the content store 210 representsingle pieces of content, or content “items.” Hence, online system usersare encouraged to communicate with each other by posting text andcontent items of various types of media to the online system 140 throughvarious communication channels. This increases the amount of interactionof users with each other and increases the frequency with which usersinteract within the online system 140. Content items can be presented,e.g., through newsfeed, to an online system user and other online systemuses that are connected to the online system user.

The action logger 215 receives communications about user actionsinternal to and/or external to the online system 140, populating theaction log 220 with information about user actions. Examples of actionsinclude requesting to create a poll, selecting an answer optionassociated with a question in a poll, commenting on a content item,replying to a comment provided by another user, highlighting a comment,adding a connection to another user, sending a message to another user,uploading an image, reading a message from another user, playing contentassociated with another user, and attending an event posted by anotheruser. In addition, a number of actions may involve an object and one ormore particular users, so these actions are associated with theparticular users as well and stored in the action log 220. For example,each action is associated with a unique user identifier identifying theuser having conducted the action. The unique user identifier is alsostored in the action log 220.

The action log 220 may be used by the online system 140 to track useractions on the online system 140, as well as actions on third partysystems 130 that communicate information to the online system 140. Usersmay interact with various objects on the online system 140, andinformation describing these interactions is stored in the action log220. Examples of interactions with objects include: liking or dislikingposts, commenting on posts, sharing links, hiding posts, deleting posts,checking-in to physical locations via a client device 110, accessingcontent items, and any other suitable interactions. Additional examplesof interactions with objects on the online system 140 that are includedin the action log 220 include: commenting on a photo album,communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object,joining an event, joining a group, creating an event, authorizing anapplication, using an application, expressing a preference for an object(“liking” the object), and engaging in a transaction. A user may performdifferent actions on different types of content items. For example, forvideos, actions that a user may perform include playing the video,commenting on the video, liking the video, sharing the video, hiding thevideo, leaving the video, deleting the video, etc. Additionally, theaction log 220 may record a user's interactions with advertisements onthe online system 140 as well as with other applications operating onthe online system 140. In some embodiments, data from the action log 220is used to infer interests or preferences of a user, augmenting theinterests included in the user's user profile and allowing a morecomplete understanding of user preferences.

The action log 220 may also store user actions taken on a third partysystem 130, such as an external website, and communicated to the onlinesystem 140. For example, an e-commerce website may recognize a user ofan online system 140 through a social plug-in enabling the e-commercewebsite to identify the user of the online system 140. Because users ofthe online system 140 are uniquely identifiable, e-commerce websites,such as in the preceding example, may communicate information about auser's actions outside of the online system 140 to the online system 140for association with the user. Hence, the action log 220 may recordinformation about actions users perform on a third party system 130,including webpage playing histories, advertisements that wereinteracted, purchases made, and other patterns from shopping and buying.Additionally, actions a user performs via an application associated witha third party system 130 and executing on a client device 110 may becommunicated to the action logger 215 by the application for recordationand association with the user in the action log 220.

In one embodiment, the edge store 225 stores information describingconnections between users and other objects on the online system 140 asedges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specifytheir relationships with other users. For example, users may generateedges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships,such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges aregenerated when users interact with objects in the online system 140,such as expressing interest in a page on the online system 140, sharinga link with other users of the online system 140, and commenting onposts made by other users of the online system 140.

An edge may include various features each representing characteristicsof interactions between users, interactions between users and objects,or interactions between objects. For example, features included in anedge describe a rate of interaction between two users, how recently twousers have interacted with each other, a rate or an amount ofinformation retrieved by one user about an object, or numbers and typesof comments posted by a user about an object. The features may alsorepresent information describing a particular object or user. Forexample, a feature may represent the level of interest that a user hasin a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs into the onlinesystem 140, or information describing demographic information about theuser. Each feature may be associated with a source object or user, atarget object or user, and a feature value. A feature may be specifiedas an expression based on values describing the source object or user,the target object or user, or interactions between the source object oruser and target object or user; hence, an edge may be represented as oneor more feature expressions.

The edge store 225 also stores information about edges, such as affinityscores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or“affinities,” may be computed by the online system 140 over time toapproximate a user's interest in an object or in another user in theonline system 140 based on the actions performed by the user. A user'saffinity may be computed by the online system 140 over time toapproximate the user's interest in an object, in a topic, or in anotheruser in the online system 140 based on actions performed by the user.Computation of affinity is further described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/690,254, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/689,969, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/690,088, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. Multiple interactions betweena user and a specific object may be stored as a single edge in the edgestore 225, in one embodiment. Alternatively, each interaction between auser and a specific object is stored as a separate edge. In someembodiments, connections between users may be stored in the user profilestore 205, or the user profile store 205 may access the edge store 225to determine connections between users.

The poll module 230 generates a poll according to a request from atarget user and qualifies comments received from other users based ontheir responses to the poll. In some embodiments, the poll module 230receives a request from a target user to present a poll to other usersof the online system 140 (hereinafter “poll request”). For example, apoll request from Tom, a target user interested in Pokémon, specifies aquestion of Tom: “who is the best starter?” Tom's poll request alsospecifies three answer options associated with the question: Squirtle,Charmander and Bulbasaur. The poll module 230 generates the poll andprovides the poll for display to other users of the online system 140,e.g., users that are connected to Tom in the online system 140. Theother users can select answer options in the poll.

The poll module 230 generates results of the received selections andprovides the results for display in the poll to the target user and theother users. The results include an answer option value for each answeroption of the poll. The answer option value indicates a number of usershaving selected the option. In one embodiment, the poll module 230generate results and provide the results for display as the selectionsare being made by the other users. For example, when a user selects theanswer option Charmander in Tom's poll, the poll module 230 increasesthe answer option value for the answer option Charmander by one.

In addition to the selections of the answer options, the poll module 230also receives comments associated with the poll from at least some ofthe other users. For example, the poll module 230 receives fromCaroline, a use who selects the answer option Charmander, a commentsaying “Charmander is my favorite.”

The poll module 230 can qualify the received comments by generating ananswer indication to each of the comments. The answer indication showswhich answer option was selected by the other user who has provided thatcomment. For example, for Caroline's comment, the poll module 230generates an answer indication saying “Caroline selected Charmander.”The poll module 230 can further provide, for display to the target userand other users, the comments and answer indications for the comments.

The poll module 230 can also qualify the comments by allocating theminto comment groups. In some embodiments, the poll module 230 generatesa comment group for each of the answer options so that the comment groupincludes comments from users who selected that answer option. Thus,there are three comment groups for Tom's poll: comment group Squirtle,comment group Charmander and comment group Bulbasaur. Caroline's commentis included in the comment group Charmander since she selected theanswer option Charmander. There can be a fourth comment group thatincludes all the comments. The poll module 230 provides the commentgroups in a user interface for display to the target user and otherusers. The user interface allows for switching between views showingcomments by users based on which answer option they selected.

In some embodiments, the poll module 230 ranks the received commentsbased on their ranking scores. To determine a ranking score of acomment, the poll module 230 identifies one or more types of interaction(e.g., liking, replying and sharing) with the comment by users of theonline system. The poll module 230 determines a ranking score for thecomment based on the identified type(s) of interaction. A comment withthe highest ranking score can be elevated to the content item so thatthe content item includes the comment, or can be listed at the top ofthe comments in the comments section or highlighted within the commentssection. In some embodiments, there is no ranking that occurs, butinstead one of the users (e.g., the user posting the content item) canelevate to the post or highlight a comment, or move it to the top of thecomments section. The poll module 230 provides for display the modifiedcontent item to the target user and other users. More details about thepoll module 230 are described below in conjunction with FIG. 3.

The highlight module 240 provides a user interface allowing onlinesystem users to highlight comments associated with a content item. Thehighlight module 240 receives a content item from the target user forpresentation to other users that are connected to the target user in theonline system 140. The content item can be a message, a note, adocument, a picture, a video or an audio. The content item is providedfor display to the target user and the other users. The highlight module240 receives comments on the content item from the users (including thetarget user and the other users) and also receives a selection of one ofthe comments from one of the users.

The highlight module 240 provides one or more types of actions on theselected comment that the user can take. Example types of actionsinclude highlighting the comment, elevating the comment (i.e., addingthe comment to the content item), replying to the comment, copying thecomment and deleting the comment. Receiving a selection of highlightingthe comment, the highlight module associate a highlight feature to thecomment so that the comment visibly stands out from the other comments.The highlighting feature can be a highlighting font, a highlightingcolor, a highlighting pattern, a highlighting phrase, or any combinationthereof. The highlight module 240 provides the highlighted comment amongthe received comments on the content item for display to the target userand other users. Receiving a selection of adding the comment, thehighlight module 240 modifies the content item to include the comment.Accordingly, the comment is elevated from the received comments tobecome a part of content in the content item. The highlight module 240provides the modified content item for display to the target user andthe other users. More details about the highlight module 240 isdescribed below in conjunction with FIG. 7.

The web server 250 links the online system 140 via the network 120 tothe one or more client devices 110, as well as to the one or more thirdparty systems 130. The web server 250 serves web pages, as well as othercontent, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and so forth. The web server 250 mayprovide application programming interface (API) functionality to senddata directly to native client device operating systems, such as IOS®,ANDROID™, or BlackberryOS. Additionally, the web server 250 may receiveand route messages between the online system 140 and the client device110, for example, instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), textmessages, short message service (SMS) messages, or messages sent usingany other suitable messaging technique.

Qualifying Comments with Poll Response

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the poll module 230 of the online system140, in accordance with an embodiment. The poll module 230 includes aninterface module 310, a poll generator 320, a comment qualificationengine 330, a comment ranking engine 340 and a presentation module 350.In other embodiments, the poll module 230 may include additional, fewer,or different components for various applications.

The interface module 310 facilitates communications of the poll module230 with online system users and/or other components of the onlinesystem 140. For example, the interface module 310 receives a pollrequest from a target user to present a content item including a poll toother users of the online system 140, e.g., users connected to thetarget user in the online system 140. The poll request specifies aquestion and a group of answer options associated with the question. Insome embodiments, the content item may further include a photo, video,music or note. The interface module 310 also receives selections of theanswer options from the other users and comments associated with thepoll from at least some of the other users. The interface module 310sends the received information to different components of the pollmodule 230. For example, the interface module 310 sends the poll requestand selections of the answer options to the poll generator 320, andsends the received comments to the comment qualification engine 330 andthe comment ranking engine 340.

The poll generator 320 generates the content item including the pollbased on the poll request of the target user. The generated content itemhas a user interface that allows the other users to select one or moreanswer options of the poll. With the user interface, a user may alsocancel a selection of an answer option and select a different answeroption. The generated content item can also include information of thetarget user (e.g., a user ID associated with the target user) and/orinformation of a time when the target user made the poll request. Thepoll generator 320 sends the generated content item to the presentationmodule 350. The presentation module 350 provides the content itemincluding the poll for display to the other users of the online systemthat are connected to the target user in the online system 140. Forexample, the presentation module 350 provides the content item in anewsfeed of the target user. The newsfeed of the target user ispresented to the other users. Each of the other users selects one of theanswer options in the poll.

As the selections by the other users are received, the poll generator320 generates results of the received selections in the poll. In someembodiments, the results includes an answer option value for each of theanswer options. The answer option value indicates a number of usershaving selected the option. In some embodiments, to determine the numberof users having selected the answer option, the poll module 230retrieves, from the action logger 220, actions of selecting the answeroption and unique user identifiers associated with the actions. The pollmodule 230 determines how many unique user identifiers are retrieved. Inone embodiment, the determined number of unique user identifiers (i.e.,the number of users having selected the answer option) is the answeroption value. In another embodiment, the answer option value does notequal the number of users who have selected the answer option. Forexample, the answer option value is a ratio of the number of usershaving selected the answer option to a number of users having selectedany of the answer options.

The results of the received selections may also include association ofthe received selections with one or more user attributes of the otherusers having selected the answer options. Examples of user attributesinclude gender, age, geographic information, marital status jobinformation and interests. Those user attributes of the other users canbe retrieved from the user profile store 205. The results can indicatehow many users with or without a user attribute have selected an answeroption. For example, the poll generator 320 determines how many male orfemale users select each answer option, how many users in a certain agerange or geographic area select each answer option, or how many marriedor single users select each answer option.

The results of the selections can be generated as the selections arebeing made. For example, the poll generator 320 updates the answeroption values as the selections are being made, i.e., as a user selectsan answer option, the answer option value for that answer option goes upby one. Also, the poll generator 230 sends the results to thepresentation module 350 as the selections are being made, so that thepresentation module 350 can provide, for display to the target user andthe other users, the results as the selections are being made.

FIG. 4A shows an example content item including a poll generated basedon a poll request from a target user, in accordance with an embodiment.The content item provided for display by the presentation module 350 tothe target user and other users that are connected to the target user inthe online system 140. As shown in FIG. 4A, the target user, Tom,requested the poll at 11:26 pm yesterday. The poll includes a question:Which one is the best starter?, and three answer options: Squirtle,Charmander and Bulbasaur.

Each of the answer options is associated with a circle to its left side.A user may select a circle associated with an answer option to selectthe answer option. In some embodiments, a user may select more than onecircle for selecting more than one answer option. The results of theselections by the other users, which are answer options values in thisembodiment, are displayed on the right side of each answer option. Eachanswer option values shows how many users have selected thecorresponding answer option. For example, 45 users have selectedSquirtle, versus 19 for Charmander and 3 for Bulbasaur.

The other users may also interact with the poll in the content item. Forexample, a user may select the thumb-up symbol to like the poll, selectthe dialogue symbol to make a comment on the poll or select the curvedarrow symbol to share the poll. As shown in FIG. 4A, there are 72 likesand 18 comments associated with the poll in the content item from theother users. For purpose of simplicity, not all the comments associatedwith the poll are displayed. In the embodiment of FIG. 4A, three of the18 comments are displayed. In an alternative embodiment, a differentnumber of comments or all the comments can be displayed. Also, one ortwo user IDs of users who liked or commented on the poll can bedisplayed in the newsfeed.

Turning back to FIG. 3, the comment qualification engine 330 qualifiescomments associated with the poll that are received from the interfacemodule 310. In some embodiments, the comment qualification engine 330generates an answer indication for each of the comments. The answerindication shows which answer option was selected by the user havingprovided that comment. In one embodiment, the comment qualificationengine 330 generates the answer indication based on the unique useridentifier of the user. For example, the comment qualification engine330 compares the unique user identifier associated with the comment withthe unique user identifier associated with the selection of the answeroption. When a same unique user identifier is associated with a commentand a selection, the commenting and selection are conducted by the sameuser. Therefore, the comment qualification engine 330 can determine theanswer option selected by the user having provided the comment andgenerate the answer indication for the comment accordingly.

In an alternative embodiment, the comment qualification engine 330generates the answer indication based on text comparison. For example,the comment qualification engine 330 compares words included in acomment with words included in each of the answer options. It is assumedthat content of the comment infers selection by the other user. Acomment including the same or substantially similar word(s) as an answeroption is probably made by a user selecting the answer option. Thecomment qualification engine 330 may use other methods to generate theanswer indication. The comment qualification engine 330 sends answerindications for the comments to the presentation module 350. Thepresentation module 350 provides the answer indications for display tothe target user and other users.

In some embodiments, the comment qualification engine 330 qualifies thecomments by allocating them into comment groups. The commentqualification engine 330 generates a comment group for each of theanswer option so that the comment group includes comments from users whoselected that answer option. In one embodiment, the commentqualification engine 330 can allocate the comments based on their answerindications. A comment associated with an answer indication showing ananswer option was selected by the user having provided the comment isallocated to the comment group for the answer option. The commentqualification engine 330 can also allocate the comments based on uniqueuser identifiers of users having provided the comments. For example, thecomment qualification engine 330 compares the unique user identifierassociated with a comment with unique user identifiers associated withthe selections of the answer options. Comments that are associated withsame unique user identifiers with selections of an answer option areallocated to the comment group of the answer option. The commentqualification engine 330 can also generate a comment group that includesall the comments.

The comment qualification engine 330 also generates a user interfacethat allows for switching between views showing comments by users. Inone embodiment, the user interface allows for switching between viewsshowing comments by users based on which answer option they selected.For example, upon selection of an answer option in the poll, a userreceives a view of comments included in the comment group correspondingto the selected answer options. In another embodiment, the userinterface allows for switching between views showing comments by usersbased on which comment group they selected. For example, each commentgroup is associated with a comment tag in the user interface. A user mayselected a comment tag to view comments included in the correspondingcomment group. The comment qualification engine 330 sends the commentgroups and user interface to the presentation module 350. Thepresentation modules 340 provides the comment groups in the usersinterface for display to the target users and other users.

FIG. 4B shows an example where comments associated with the poll in FIG.4A are qualified, in accordance with an embodiment. In FIG. 4B, each ofthe comments is associated with an indication showing which answeroption was selected by the user having provided that comment. The answerindication of a comment is displayed next to the user ID of the otheruser having provided the comment. For example, Bill's comment has ananswer indication saying “voted Bulbasaur” next to “Bill.” In otherembodiments, the answer indications can be displayed at other positions.

The comments are also allocated to comment groups. There are fourcomment groups. One comment group includes all the comments; each of theother three comment groups is for each of the answer options andincludes comments from users who all selected that answer option. Theuser interface includes a comment tab for each comment group. A user mayselect a comment tab to obtain a view of comments included in thecorresponding comment group. In the embodiment of FIG. 4B, the commentgroup “All Comments” is selected, which is indicated by the darker lineunder “All Comments.” Accordingly, the displayed comments includecomment from Sarah who selected the answer option Squirtle, Bill whoselected the answer option Bulbasaur and Chris who selected the answeroption Charmander, as opposed to from users who all selected one answeroption.

FIG. 4C shows an example user interface allowing a user to switchbetween views showing comments based on which answer option the userselect, in accordance with an embodiment. In the embodiment of FIG. 4C,the circle associated with the answer option Charmander has a checksymbol in it and the answer option is highlighted, indicating that auser is selecting the answer option Charmander. Also, compared with theFIG. 4B, the answer option value for the answer option Charmander isincreased from 19 to 20, indicating that the results of receivedselections in the pool are updated and provided as the selections arebeing made. As the user selecting the answer option Charmander, the viewof comments is switched from the view of showing all comments in FIG. 4Bto a view of showing the comment group Charmander. Similarly, if anotheruser selects the answer option Squirtle, the answer option value for theanswer option Squirtle will be increased by one and the view of commentswill be switched to a view of showing the comment group Squirtle. Theuser interface also allows the target user and the other users tointeract with the comments. For example, a user can like a comment byselecting “Like” under the comment or reply to the comment by selecting“Reply.” There can be other type of interaction available, such assharing, deleting or hiding.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the comment ranking engine 340 ranks thereceived comments based on interactions associated with each comment.For example, the comment ranking engine 340 determines a ranking scorefor each comment based on interactions associated with the comment. Insome embodiments, the comment ranking engine 340 identifies one or moretypes of interaction with a comment by other users. Example types ofinteraction include expressing a preference for the comment (e.g.,liking a comment), providing a secondary comment associated with thecomment (replying to a comment), sharing the comment with another userof the online system, hiding the comment, deleting the comment and anycombination thereof. For each identified type of interaction, thecomment ranking engine 340 obtains an interaction score. The interactionscore can be a product of a number of users who have interacted with thecomment in the identified type of interaction with a weight identifiedfor the type of interaction.

In one embodiment, the comment ranking engine 340 receives a weightassigned to each type of interaction. The weight indicates a level ofinterest in the comment by the user who performed the interaction. Forexample, the weight for replying is higher than the weight for liking,given the assumption that a user who replies to a comment is moreinterested in the comment than a user who merely likes a comment. Aweight can be a positive value or negative value. For example, theweight for liking or replying is a positive value but the weight fordeleting or hiding is a negative value. A user who likes or replies to acomment is presumptively interested in the comment; while a user whodeletes or hides a comment is presumptively not interested in thecomment. The comment ranking engine 340 further determines a number ofusers who have interacted with the comment in the identified type ofinteraction. For example, the comment ranking engine 340 retrievesunique user identifiers associated with the interaction and the commentfrom the action log 220 and determine a number of the retrieved uniqueuser identifiers. The comment ranking engine 340 obtains the interactionscore by multiplying the number of users with the weight of theidentified type of interaction. The comment ranking engine 340 canfurther aggregate the interaction score for each identified type ofinteraction associated with the comment to obtain the ranking score ofthe comment.

In other embodiments, the comment ranking engine 340 obtains rankingscores for the received comments using another method. For example, thecomment ranking engine 340 determines how many unique users haveinteracted with each comment and obtain a higher ranking score for acomment with which more unique users have interacted with.Alternatively, the comment ranking engine 340 uses one type ofinteraction to rank the comments. For example, the comment rankingengine 340 determines how many replies are associated with each commentand rank the comments based on their numbers of replies.

The comment ranking engine 340 may select a comment with a ranking scorehigher than others of the received comment and elevate the selectedcomment to the content item. Accordingly, the content item is modifiedto include the elevated comment. The presentation module 350 can providethe modified content item for display to the target user and the otherusers. Also, the comment ranking engine 340 may determine an order inwhich the comments are displayed based on their ranking scores. Forexample, a comment with a higher ranking score is listed in front ofanother comment with a lower ranking score. The presentation module 350provides the comments for display in the determined order.

FIG. 4D shows an example where a comment associate with the poll in FIG.4A is elevated to the content item including the poll, in accordancewith an embodiment. For the purpose of simplicity, the embodiment ofFIG. 4D ranks the comments from Sarah, Bill and Chris and elevates thecomment with the highest ranking to the content item. The commentranking engine 340 identifies two types of interactions with thosecomments: like and reply. The weight for like is 2 and the weight forreply is 1. It is assumed that a user who replies to a comment is moreinterested in the comment than another user who likes the comment. Inother embodiments, there can be other types of interactions and weightsfor the interactions can be other values.

In some embodiments, the comment ranking engine 340 determines that alike score and a reply score for each comment. The like score is theproduct of the weight for like and the number of users who have likedthe comment. Similarly, the reply score is the product of the weight forreply and the number of users who have replied the comment. For example,the like score for Chris' comment is 7 times 1, which equals 7. And thereply score for Chris' comment is 9 times 2, which equals 18. Theranking score for Chris' comment is the addition of the like score andthe reply score, i.e., 7 plus 18, which equals 25. Based on the samemethod, the ranking score for Sarah's comments is 3; and the rankingscore for Bill's comment is 23. Even though Bill's comment has receivedthe same number of interactions as Chris' comment, Bill's comment has alower ranking score because the weight for like is smaller than theweight for reply.

Thus, Chris' comment has higher ranking score than the other twocomments associated with the poll. Accordingly, Chris' comment may beelevated to the content item including the poll. In the embodiment ofFIG. 4D, Chris' comment is moved to below the poll. In alternativeembodiment, Chris' comment can be moved to another position in thecontent item, e.g., on top of the poll or next to the poll.Additionally, in some embodiments, because Bill's comment has a higherranking score than Sarah's comment, Bill's comment is displayed in frontof Sarah's comment. In other embodiments, the ranking score onlyelevates the top-ranked comment to the top of the comments list withoutadjusting the other comments' positioning. Similarly, the highest-rankedcomment may be highlighted without being moved. In other embodiments,there is no ranking that occurs, but instead the comments are elevatedto the content item or to the top of the comments list, or arehighlighted, by a user (e.g., the user who posted the content item)selecting the comment for one of these modifications.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process for allocating commentsassociated with a poll to comment groups based on poll responses ofonline system users having provided the comments, in accordance with anembodiment. In some embodiments, the process is performed by the pollmodule 230, although some or all of the operations in the method may beperformed by other entities in other embodiments. In some embodiments,the operations in the flow chart are performed in a different order andcan include different and/or additional steps.

The poll module 230 receives 510 a request (i.e., a poll request) from atarget user of an online system 140 to present to other users of theonline system 140 a content item including a poll. The poll requestidentifies a question and answer options associated with the question.For example, each of the answer options provide an answer to thequestion. The poll module 230 generates the poll that includes thequestion and answer options specified in the poll request. The pollmodule 230 provides 520 for display the content item including the pollto other users of the online system that are connected to the targetuser in the online system. The poll module 230 receives 530 a selectionof an answer option from each of the plurality of the other users.Additionally, the poll module 230 receives 540 a plurality of commentsassociated with the poll in the content item from at least some of theother users. The poll module 230 generates 550 a comment group for eachof the answer options in response to the poll such that the commentgroup includes comments from users who selected that answer option. Thepoll module 230 provides 560 for display to the target user and to otherusers the comment groups in a user interface. The user interface allowsfor switching between views showing comments by users based on whichanswer option they selected.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process for providing answerindications for comments associated with a poll based on poll responsesof online system users having provided the comments, in accordance withan embodiment. In some embodiments, the process is performed by the pollmodule 230, although some or all of the operations in the method may beperformed by other entities in other embodiments. In some embodiments,the operations in the flow chart are performed in a different order andcan include different and/or additional steps.

The poll module 230 receives 610 a request from a target user of anonline system 140 to present to other users of the online system 140 acontent item including a poll. The poll includes a question and a groupsof answer options associated with the question. The poll module 230provides 620 for display the content item including the poll to otherusers of the online system that are connected to the target user in theonline system. The poll module 230 receives 630 a selection of an answeroption from each of the plurality of the other users. The poll module230 provides 640 for display to the target user and to other users, theresults of the received selection in the poll as the selection are beingmade by the other users. In one embodiment, the results indicate howmany other users have selected each of the answer options. In analternative embodiment, the results indicate association between theanswer options with a user attribute. For example, the results shows howmany females or males have selected each answer option, how many usersin a certain age range have selected each option, how many users from agraphic area have selected each option, and so on. In addition to theselections of answer options, the poll module 230 receives 650 aplurality of comments associated with the poll in the content item fromat least some of the other users. The poll module 230 provides 660 fordisplay to the target user and to other users the plurality of commentsby the other users and an indication for each of the comments that showswhich answer option was selected by the other users having provided thatcomment.

Highlighting Comments

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the highlight module 240 of the onlinesystem 140, in accordance with an embodiment. The highlight module 240includes an interface module 710, a comment action module 720, a commentranking engine 730, and a presentation module 740. In other embodiments,the highlight module 240 may include additional, fewer, or differentcomponents for various applications.

The interface module 710 facilitates communication of the highlightmodule 240 with online system users and/or other entities the onlinesystem 140. In some embodiments, the interface module 710 receivescommunications from online system users related to comment highlightingand sends those communications to other entities of the highlight module240. For example, the interface module 710 receives comments on acontent item from online system users and sends the comments to thecomment ranking engine 730 to rank the comments. Also, the interfacemodule 710 receives selection of one of the comment from one of theonline system users and sends the selection to the comment action module720 to modify the comment or content item.

The comment action module 720 provides actions on the selected commentto the user having selected the comment and modifies the selectedcomment or the content item based on an action by the user. Examples ofthe actions include highlighting a comment, elevating a comment,replying a comment, copying a comment, deleting a comment or anycombination thereof. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the comment actionmodule 720 includes a comment highlighter 723 configured to highlightcomments and a comment elevation engine 725 configured to elevatecomments to content items. In other embodiments, the comment actionmodule 720 may include additional or different components.

The comment highlighter 723 associates a highlighting feature to thecomment when a selection of highlighting the comment is received fromthe user having selected the comment. The highlight feature makes thecomment visibly stand out from the other comments. In one approach, thecomment highlighter 723 changes fonts of text in the selected comment,such as making the text bold or italic, increasing font size of the textor underlining the text. In another approach, the comment highlighter723 applies a bright highlighting color over the comment. Thehighlighting color make the comment stand out but does not block theuser's view of the comment. Alternatively, the comment highlighter 723adds a highlighting phrase to the comment. For example, the commenthighlighter 723 adds “Highlighted” adjacent to the comment. Also, thecomment highlighter 723 applies a highlighting pattern to the comment. Ahighlighting pattern can be a dot pattern, a diagonal strip pattern or aframe. After the selected comment is highlighted, the comment actionmodule 720 sends the highlighted comment the presentation module 740 andthe latter provides the highlighted comment amongst the other receivedcomments for display to the target users and other users.

FIGS. 8A-C illustrate an example of a user interface allowing a user tohighlight a comment associated with a content item, in accordance withone embodiment. In the embodiment of FIGS. 8A-C, a target user, Taylor,sent a content item, which is a message including a question (“I'mlooking for a Pikachu in SF? Any ideas?”), for presentation to otherusers of the online system 140. Some of the other users, including Yan,George, Ricardo, Hank and Kevin, commented on the content item. Theircomments forms a comment list. The order of the comments in the commentlist is determined by how early each comment was received. Yan's commentwas the one received earliest, so it is the first one in the list. Inother embodiments, the comments can be listed in different orders.Taylor, as shown in FIG. 8A, selected Hank's comment, as indicated bythe black bar to the right side of Hank's comment. Taylor's selection ofHank's comment triggered a menu to pop out, shown in FIG. 8B. The menuincludes a few of actions that Taylor can take on Hank's comment. Thoseoptions are Highlight, Elevate, Reply, Copy and Delete. In someembodiment, the menu also include an option for canceling the selectionof the comment. Taylor selected Highlight, making “Highlight” bold inFIG. 8B. In FIG. 8C, Hank's comment is highlighted with a highlightphrase “Taylor highlighted this.” The highlight phrase identifies theuser, Taylor, who highlighted the comment. In other embodiments, Hank'scomment can be highlighted with other highlight features. In FIG. 8C,the position of Hank's comments does not change. It is still the fourthcomment in the comment list. But in alternative embodiments, Hank'scomment can be moved to a new position, e.g., becoming the first commentin the comment list.

Turning back to FIG. 7, the comment elevation engine 725 elevates theselected comment to become a part of content in the content item uponreceiving the user's selection of elevating the comment. In other words,the comment elevation engine 725 modifies the content item to includethe selected comment. In some embodiments, the comment elevation engine725 determines a position in the content item in which to insert thecomment and inserts the comment in the content item at the determinedposition. The determination of the position is based at least in part ona characteristic of the comment and a characteristic of the contentitem. The characteristic of the comment may be content of the comment,logical relationship of the comment with the content item, length of thecomment, timing that the comment was made, or any combination thereof.The characteristics of the content item may be content of the contentitem, size of the content item, components of the content item, or anycombination thereof. In an example where the content item includes aquestion and the comment is an answer to the question, the commentelevation engine 725 inserts the comment below the question. So that auser viewing the content item reads the question before the answer. Inanother example where the content item includes an item having largecontent, e.g., a video, audio, document or article, and the comment is adescription of content of the item, the comment can be inserted abovethe item. In that way, a user viewing the content item can access thedescription before they spend time viewing the whole content of theitem.

Online system users can interact with the elevated comment. For example,the target user replies to the elevated comment. Receiving the targetuser's reply, the comment elevation engine 725 further modifies themodified content item to include the reply from the target user. Afterthe content item is modified, the comment action module 720 sends themodified content item to the presentation module 740. The presentationmodule 740 provides the modified content item for display to the targetuser and other users.

FIGS. 9A-C illustrate an example of a user interface allowing a user toelevate a comment to a content item with which the comment isassociated, in accordance with one embodiment. FIGS. 9A-C includes thesame content item and comments as FIGS. 8A-C. Also, similar to FIG. 8A,FIG. 9A shows that Hank's comment is selected, assuming by Taylor too.In FIG. 9B, the same menu including the actions that Taylor can take onHank's comment is provided to Taylor. Instead of selecting Highlight,Taylor, in FIG. 9B, selected Elevate. Accordingly, Hank's comment iselevated to become part of the content item, as shown in FIG. 9C. AsHank's comment is an answer to the question included in Taylor'smessage, Hank's comment is inserted below the message. Also, Hank'scomments is not provide in the comment list any more. In otherembodiments, Hank's comments can be inserted at another position in thecontent item.

Referring again to FIG. 7, the comment ranking engine 730 can be thecomment ranking engine 340 described in conjunction with FIG. 3. In someembodiments, the comment ranking engine 730 does not elevate a highestranked comment to become part of the content of the content item.Rather, a user may add a comment, whether highest ranked on not, to thecontent item. In embodiments where comments on a content item aredisplayed in a sequence and a position for each comment is determinedbased on the ranking score of the comment, the comment ranking engine730 receives from a user a selection of a comment and a selection of aposition in the sequence for the comment. The comment ranking engine 730modifies the position in the sequence for each of other comments basedon the ranking score of each of other comments and the selectedposition.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for modifying a contentitem by including a comment on the content item, in accordance with anembodiment. In some embodiments, the process is performed by thehighlight module 240, although some or all of the operations in themethod may be performed by other entities in other embodiments. In someembodiments, the operations in the flow chart are performed in adifferent order and can include different and/or additional steps.

The highlight module 240 receives 1010 a content item from a target userof an online system for presentation to other users of the online systemthat are connected to the target user in the online system. Thehighlight module 240 receives 1020 and 1030 a plurality of comments onthe content item from the users (the target user and/or the other users)and a selection of one of the plurality of comments from one of theusers. The highlight module 240 provides 1040, for display to the userfrom which the selection was received, one or more types of actions onthe comment that the user can take. The one or more types of actionsinclude adding the comment to the content item the comment (i.e.,elevating the comment). The highlight module 240 receives 1150 aselection of adding the comment from the user. The highlight module 240modifies 1160 the content item to include the comment such that thecomment is elevated from the plurality of comments to become a part ofcontent in the content item. The highlight module 240 provides 1170 fordisplay to the plurality of users the modified content item includingthe elevated comment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process for highlighting a commenton a content item, in accordance with an embodiment. In someembodiments, the process is performed by the highlight module 240,although some or all of the operations in the method may be performed byother entities in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the operationsin the flow chart are performed in a different order and can includedifferent and/or additional steps.

The highlight module 240 receives 1120 a content item from a target userof an online system for presentation to other users of the online systemthat are connected to the target user in the online system. Thehighlight module 240 also receives 1120 and 1130 a plurality of commentson the content item from the plurality of users and a selection of oneof the plurality of comments from one of the plurality of users of theonline system. The highlight module 240 provides 1140, for display tothe user from which the selection was received, one or more types ofactions on the comment that the user can take. The one or more types ofactions include highlighting the comment. The highlight module 240receives 1150 a selection of highlighting the comment from the user. Thehighlight module 240 associates 1160 a highlighting feature to thecomment such that the comment visibly stands out from other of theplurality of comments. The highlight module 240 provides 1170 fordisplay to the plurality of users the plurality of comments on thecontent item and the highlighted comment among the plurality ofcomments.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for thepurpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in therelevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations arepossible in light of the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance oftheir work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has alsoproven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operationsas modules, without loss of generality. The described operations andtheir associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware,hardware, or any combinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computingdevice selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer programstored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may becoupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systemsreferred to in the specification may include a single processor or maybe architectures employing multiple processor designs for increasedcomputing capability.

Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computingprocess described herein. Such a product may comprise informationresulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and mayinclude any embodiment of a computer program product or other datacombination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the patent rights. It istherefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not bythis detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of thepatent rights, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising,receiving a request from a target user of an online system to present toother users of the online system a content item including a pollcomprising a question and a plurality of answer options associated withthe question; providing for display the content item including the pollto other users of the online system that are connected to the targetuser in the online system; receiving a selection of an answer optionfrom each of a plurality of the other users; receiving a plurality ofcomments associated with the poll in the content item from at least someof the other users; generating a comment group for each of the answeroptions in response to the poll such that the comment group includescomments from users who selected that answer option; and providing, fordisplay to the target user and to other users, the comment groups in auser interface that allows for switching between views showing commentsby users based on which answer option they selected.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: for each answer option, obtaining an answeroption value indicating a number of users having selected the option;and providing for display in the poll the answer option value of eachanswer option to the target user and the other users.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: providing, for display to the target userand to other users, an indication for each of the plurality of commentsthat shows which answer option was selected by the other user havingprovided that comment.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the userinterface includes a comment tab for each comment group and furtherallows for switching between views showing comments by users based onwhich comment tab they selected.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining a ranking score for each of the plurality ofcomments; and providing for display the plurality of comments in anorder determined based on the ranking score of each comment.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, further comprising: selecting from the plurality ofcomments a comment with a ranking score that is higher than others ofthe comments; elevating the selected comment to the content item suchthat the content item is modified to include the elevated comment; andproviding for display the modified content item to the target user andthe other users.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining theranking score for each of the plurality of comments comprises:identifying one or more types of interaction with a comment by users ofthe online system; obtaining an interaction score for each identifiedtype of interaction; and aggregating the interaction score for eachidentified type of interaction.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinobtaining an interaction score for each identified type of interactioncomprises: receiving a weight assigned to the type of interaction, theweight indicating a level of interest in the comment by the user whoperformed the interaction; determining a number of users who haveinteracted with the comment in the identified type of interaction; andmultiplying the number of users with the weight of the identified typeof interaction.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein a type of interactionis selected from a group consisting of: expressing a preference for thecomment, providing a secondary comment associated with the comment,sharing the comment with another user of the online system, hiding thecomment, deleting the comment and any combination thereof.
 10. Acomputer-implemented method, comprising, receiving a request from atarget user of an online system to present to other users of the onlinesystem a content item including a poll comprising a question and aplurality of options associated with the question; providing for displaythe content item including the poll to other users of the online systemthat are connected to the target user in the online system; receiving aselection of an answer option from each of a plurality of the otherusers; providing, for display for display to the target user and toother users, the results of the received selections in the poll as theselections are being made by the other users; receiving a plurality ofcomments associated with the poll in the content item from at least someof the other users; and providing, for display to the target user and toother users, the plurality of comments by the other users and anindication for each of the comments that shows which answer option wasselected by the other user having provided that comment.
 11. The methodof claim 10, further comprising: generating a comment group for each ofthe answer options in response to the poll such that the comment groupincludes comments from users who selected that answer option; andproviding, for display to the target user and to other users, thecomment groups in a user interface that allows for switching betweenviews showing comments by users based on which answer option theyselected.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interfaceincludes a comment tab for each comment group and further allows forswitching between views showing comments by users based on which commenttab they select.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the results of thereceived selections in the poll includes an answer option value for eachanswer option, the answer option value indicating a number of usershaving selected the answer option.
 14. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: determining a ranking score for each of the plurality ofcomments; and providing for display the plurality of comments in anorder determined based on the ranking score of each comment.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising: selecting from the plurality ofcomments a comment with a ranking score that is higher than others ofthe comments; elevating the selected comment to the content item suchthat the content item is modified to include the elevated comment; andproviding for display the modified content item to the target user andthe other users.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining theranking score for each of the plurality of comments comprises:identifying one or more types of interaction with a comment by users ofthe online system; obtaining an interaction score for each identifiedtype of interaction; and aggregating the interaction score for eachidentified type of interaction.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinobtaining an interaction score for each identified type of interactioncomprises: receiving a weight assigned to the type of interaction, theweight indicating a level of interest in the comment by the user whoperformed the interaction; determining a number of users who haveinteracted with the comment in the identified type of interaction; andmultiplying the number of users with the weight of the identified typeof interaction.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein a type ofinteraction is selected from a group consisting of: expressing apreference for the comment, providing a secondary comment associatedwith the comment, sharing the comment with another user of the onlinesystem, hiding the comment, deleting the comment and any combinationthereof.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storingexecutable computer program instructions, the computer programinstructions comprising instructions that when executed cause a computerprocessor to: receive a request from a target user of an online systemto present to other users of the online system a content item includinga poll comprising a question and a plurality of answer optionsassociated with the question; provide for display the content itemincluding the poll to other users of the online system that areconnected to the target user in the online system; receive a selectionof an answer option from each of a plurality of the other users; receivea plurality of comments associated with the poll in the content itemfrom at least some of the other users; generate a comment group for eachof the answer options in response to the poll such that the commentgroup includes comments from users who selected that answer option; andprovide, for display to the target user and to other users, the commentgroups in a user interface that allows for switching between viewsshowing comments by users based on which answer option they selected.20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing executablecomputer program instructions, the computer program instructionscomprising instructions that when executed cause a computer processorto: receive a request from a target user of an online system to presentto other users of the online system a content item including a pollcomprising a question and a plurality of options associated with thequestion; provide for display the content item including the poll toother users of the online system that are connected to the target userin the online system; receive a selection of an answer option from eachof a plurality of the other users; provide, for display for display tothe target user and to other users, the results of the receivedselections in the poll as the selections are being made by the otherusers; receive a plurality of comments associated with the poll in thecontent item from at least some of the other users; and provide, fordisplay to the target user and to other users, the plurality of commentsby the other users and an indication for each of the comments that showswhich answer option was selected by the other user having provided thatcomment.